The ratio of luminance between the brightest white in a display system to the darkest black that can be produced is called the contrast ratio. In a micromirror based display system, higher contrast ratios can be achieved when there is a larger difference in angle between light reflected from the mirrors in their ON state and light reflected from the mirror in the OFF state. One way to increase the difference in reflected angles is by having the micromirrors be electrostatically deflected in opposite directions (to ON and OFF states) from a non-deflected state.
Micromirror based display systems employ an array of reflective and deflectable mirror plates for modulating the incident light so as to produce the desired image. Often times, the light is incident onto the mirror plates at certain angles. In this instance, vertical side walls of the mirror plates may be exposed to the incident light—resulting in unwanted light scattering. The scattered light, in turn, reduces the contrast ratio.